Whatever. I'll Run Anyway.

Friday evening, I learned to my great disappointment that the New York City Marathon had been cancelled. It sounded to me like Mary Wittenberg, the president of the New York Road Runners (NYRR) had been hesitant to carry on with the race from the get go, but after Mayor Bloomberg announced on Wednesday that the race was on, NYRR's hands were tied. If the mayor says go ahead, there's not much you can do... A public outcry followed almost immediately, as people were concerned about the police, medical services, and sheer manpower it takes to run a marathon taking away from rescue and recovery services for storm victims. The city claims that no services would have been diverted from recovery efforts (which I find a bit hard to believe, frankly, but may be legitimate). I can certainly see both sides, and all I can say is that I'm glad the decision was not mine.

I decided that I wanted to run the distance I'd been training for on Sunday, marathon or no marathon, and I invited a few friends to join me in the park. Then my friend Isang emailed to tell me about a much bigger, more publicized marathon alternative, and so I decided to join that one instead. Ed and my dad came out to run at least part of it with me on Sunday morning, and we arrived at what would have been the official finish line of the NYC marathon to find thousands of people milling around and ready to run.

Before the start of the race

Run Anyway, the name of the alternate marathon, was a blast. It was preceded with the national anthem, just like every NYRR race (though this one was not affiliated with NYRR) and then we all counted down together and took off! The grandstands had already been erected and were still in place, and as the race went on they filled with cheering onlookers. The course was not nearly as interesting as the actual marathon course, alas; we did a little more than 4 laps around the park to finish with 26.2 miles exactly. Ed stuck with me for 20 miles of it before dropping out - quite impressive for someone who had never run more than 13.1 miles before yesterday - and my dad finished the whole thing with similar training credentials! It seemed that almost half the people on the course were foreign, which makes a lot of sense because international runners would have already been in NYC, or at least en route, when the announcement of the marathon's cancellation was made. They were stuck, but they seemed very pleased to at least be able to run something, even if it wasn't the real event. I saw teams large and small from places as diverse as France, Spain (with a separate team from Catalonia), Hungary, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland, Switzerland, Peru, the Philippines  and Brazil. Many of them wore jerseys identifying them as nationals of their various countries, and some ran with huge flags. Lots of people, myself included, wore the orange, long-sleeved t-shirt we had gotten as a marathon souvenir when we picked up our numbers on Thursday and Friday. Some wore goofy costumes they'd planned to wear in the race; I saw over-sized foam cowboy hats, tutus, and one guy dressed, bafflingly, as a cow. Some people even pinned on their race numbers.

There's always a lot of support for the real marathon, and it's great to see people using their Sunday to volunteer with NYRR  to help and encourage thousands of runners they don't know. The effect of the volunteers at Run Anyway was even more powerful, though, because these people were funding their own support efforts. The course was peppered with makeshift aid stations, and lone spectators stood on the side of the course handing out water, sports drinks, bananas, bagels, and Starbursts they'd bought themselves. Many other supporters waved signs, rang cowbells, and cheered us on as we went by. There were still large sections of the course with no spectators - and let me tell you, cheering helps enormously - but I couldn't believe how many people showed up to support an unofficial event. The spirit of comradeship spread throughout the ranks. Not only were there volunteers walking the course backwards with outstretched trash bags so that runners could easily dispose of empty gel packs and old water bottles, runners themselves were more careful than I've ever seen them in a race to hold onto refuse until they could dispose of it. Generally, cups and trash are tossed around willy-nilly, but the park stayed tidy on Sunday, and I was proud of everyone for that. Another positive outcome: Isang said that they collected a huge sum of money and almost more donations than they could handle for storm recovery efforts from runners who wanted to run and help out, too. NYRR helped out by sending boxes to collect donations, which was nice of them.

As for my performance: I did not go as fast as I'd wanted to go, but I was still pleased.  I finished the course in 3 hours and 53 minutes, a 12-minute improvement from my last marathon. I'd been hoping to go below 3:50 and, maybe, finish by 3:45, and I think I'd have been able to do it had the actual marathon occurred as planned. Anyone who has done any running in Central Park will appreciate how hilly it is, and though the regular NYC course is not totally flat, it doesn't have nearly as much elevation change as a few laps around the park do. Also encouraging has been my recovery thus far. Although I'm somewhat sore today, this is nothing compared to the agonizing days that followed my last marathon. I was quite pleased with my pacing yesterday, which will serve me well for the 2013 marathon. All of this leads me to conclude that the training plan I followed worked very well for me, and I plan to use it again to get me ready for my next attempt at the NYC marathon. (I'll plug the book I used at my friend Conor's suggestion: Run Less, Run Faster is a fantastic, detailed, and realistic guide.) I will be making a few changes to my training regimen, however; I plan to add more weight training, and I'll do more of my tempo runs in Central Park instead of on the flat path that runs along the Hudson like I did this year.

I learned a lot from Run Anyway, and I had a great time, to boot. While I look forward to doing the real marathon next November, I can't imagine a better resolution to a very disappointing situation.